Valašský vojvoda
Singing and dancing group Valašský vojvoda from Kozlovice was established in May 1970. It follows tradition of larger dancing groups from the area of the Ondřejník mountain in the marvellous Moravian-Silesian Beskydy Mountains. The tradition of folk culture in our country (Lachian and Wallachian borderland) dates back to the end of the 15th century and fully developed later on, when Wallachian colonization with its culture penetrated Eastern Moravia.
Not far from Kozlovice, the ruin of the castle Hukvaldy spreads out. At the beginning of 18th century, there was established a settlement near the castle where famous and ingenious musical composer Leoš Janáček was born. The area of Hukvaldy and Kozlovice was a source of great inspiration for the composer. For example, Leoš Janáček found motives for his famous work "Lašské tance" in traditional dances performed in an inn "U Harabiša" in Kozlovice. The work of Leoš Janáček significantly influenced the folklore art, dancers and singers in the whole area and he also played a considerable role in the successful performance of dancers from Kozlovice and Válek´s cymbalon music from Kunčice pod Ondřejníkem at "Czechoslovak Ethnical Exhibition" in Prague in 1895, which was an important historical landmark in the cultural history of the Czech Republic. Nowadays, the ensemble "Valašský vojvoda" show many of these traditional songs and dances at their performance.
The heart of the today´s ensemble is formed by young people who admire folk music (folklore). They play, dance and sing at various concerts and performances. Although they are amateurs, they always perform with a great desire and act like professionals. Many of the traditional songs, dances and traditions are shown in a very autentic way. The ensemble Valašský vojvoda perform in the folk costumes made on the basis of historical documents and sources from the second half of 19th century.
Valašský vojvoda cooperate with the Czech Television where it participate in various programmes and projects. The members of the ensemble participated in shooting several full-length films, documentary films and a fairy tale "Dřevěná Marika" (Wooden Marika). The ensemble also actively cooperate with the Czech Broadcast Ostrava; about 300 minutes of folk music have been recorded for the musical archive and all songs and CDs of the ensemble have been recorded there. A good example is the latest CD called "The Sun is rising".
The ensemble perform at many cultural shows, folklore festivals and international folklore festivals and concerts in the Czech Republic. Among the most important, there belong the concert in Prague in Žofín on the occasion of 100th anniversary of the Czechoslovak Ethnical Exhibition, programme "Ó radost má" which was a part of the cycle of the Czech and Moravian folk within the framework of the musical festival "Prague - European city of culture of the year 2000", the International Folklore Festival Strážnice, Plzeň, Strakonice, Frýdek - Místek, Ostrava, Rožnov pod Radhoštěm, etc.
Our dancing programme is accompanied by a music band. List of all instruments:
- the first violin - prim
- the second violin
- the third violin
- cymbalom
- clarinet, oboe and flute
- viola kontra
- violoncello
- double-bass
Zdeněk Tofel, the artistic leader of cymbalom band. Věra Tobolová is the group´s leader, Ludmila Fizková and Lenka Eliášová are the group´s choreographers, Jan Šošola is the first violin player.